Kabul: The bodies of four kidnappers were hung from cranes by the Taliban after killing them during a shootout in Afghanistan’s western city of Herat on Saturday, according to a senior official.
Deputy governor of Herat province, Mawlawi Shir Ahmad Muhajir said the men’s bodies were displayed in various public areas on the same day as the killings to teach a “lesson” that kidnapping will not be tolerated in this regime.
Images on social media showed bloody bodies attached to the back of a pick-up truck while a crane lifted one man up. A crowd of people looked on as armed Taliban fighters gathered around the vehicle.
In another video, a body was seen suspended from a crane at a major roundabout in Herat with a sign on his chest reading: “Abductors will be punished like this”.
According to Muhajir, security forces were intimated that a businessman and his son had been kidnapped in the city on Saturday morning.
With police blocking the roads out of the city, the Taliban stopped the men at a checkpoint, where “an exchange of fire happened”.
“As a result of a few minutes of fighting, one of our Mujahideen was wounded and all four kidnappers were killed,” Muhajir was quoted as saying in a recorded statement by news agency AFP.
“We are the Islamic Emirate. No one should harm our nation. No one should kidnap,” he was heard saying in the video clip.
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